The papal delegate’s decisions will be based on listening to the victims and a detailed report on each case.

Rome, Italy. January 31, 2011. Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, the
papal delegate for the congregation, has created the Outreach Commission,
as announced in his October 19, 2010 letter.

The members
of the commission will have two fundamental tasks. In the
first place, they will listen to the people who are
requesting a response from the Legionaries of Christ because of
Fr Marcial Maciel or in relation to him. Then they
will write a detailed report which they will submit to
the papal delegate. With the help of his advisors, he
will then make decisions about what the Legion of Christ
should do in each case.

To ensure objectivity and impartiality in
the commission’s work, Msgr. Mario Marchesi, one of the papal
delegate’s personal advisors, will lead it. Four additional members will
make up the commission: Fr Florencio Sánchez, LC (chaplain of
the Francisco de Vitoria University in Madrid), Fr Eduardo Robles-Gil,
LC (Regnum Christi section director in Mexico City), and two
external experts: Fr Silverio Nieto Núñez, a priest from
the archdiocese of Madrid, a former judge and magistrate who
now directs the Civil Juridical Service of the Spanish Bishops’
Conference; and Dr Jorge Adame Goddard, a titular researcher
at the UNAM Juridical Research Institute and a law professor
at Panamerican University in Mexico City.

Those who wish to be
heard by the commission can write to the following address,
briefly explaining the situation they would like to present:

The decree constituting the
commission stated that it would deal only with cases having
a direct relation to the person of Fr Marcial Maciel.
It will not intervene in cases awaiting decisions from civil
or ecclesiastical courts.

When he presented the Outreach Commission to the
Legionaries of Christ, Fr Álvaro Corcuera, LC, emphasized that its
purpose is to “continue facing with seriousness and responsibility our
recent history as regards Fr Marcial Maciel’s conduct and the
implications and consequences it has had on some people. Insofar
as it is humanly possible, we want to close this
chapter in its more painful aspects, seek reconciliation, and allow
justice and charity to prevail.”

At the same time, the general
director of the Legionaries of Christ encouraged everyone to pray
for this commission’s work so that it may be sustained
by God’s grace and truly do good to the affected
people and their families.